Pressure's on the 49ers' leader, and that seems to be how he likes it

Colin Kaepernick (front and center) is clearly the offense's main man, and more is expected of him in his second full season as starter.

Colin Kaepernick (front and center) is clearly the offense's main man, and more is expected of him in his second full season as starter.

Photo: Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle

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With key defensive players expected to miss several games, Colin Kaepernick probably will need to carry a heavier load for the 49ers.

With key defensive players expected to miss several games, Colin Kaepernick probably will need to carry a heavier load for the 49ers.

Photo: Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle

Pressure's on Colin Kaepernick, and that's how he likes it

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You are Colin Kaepernick, and you have lost your bug.

Suddenly, you are carrying a lot more weight, figuratively.

An apprentice jockey is called a bug boy. This refers to the weight allowance he is given during his apprenticeship. He rides lighter than the other jockeys. After a certain number of wins, the apprentice rider loses his bug, and the world sees how good he really is.

Your apprenticeship as 49ers' quarterback is up. You've got a long-term contract and have been anointed the 49ers' quarterback now and into the future.

As you begin your second full season as starter, you have lost your bug, the advantage you enjoyed your first season and a half, the advantage of playing on a team with a defense that crushed opponents. That bug has left the station.

Your 49ers still will put 11 defensive players on the field each play, led by certified superstars Justin Smith and Patrick Willis. But you're now an NFL vet, and you realize the 49ers' 2014 defense figures to be a much-less-imposing unit than the ones Jim Harbaugh put on the field his first three NFL seasons.

Your team's two best players are Aldon Smith and NaVorro Bowman. Smith probably will sit out several games after the league suspends him and Bowman is recovering from a serious knee injury.

Your defense will feature three new starters in the backfield and a new nose tackle. When Aldon Smith and Bowman return, it might take them a while to regain top form.

You know there's no way you can expect the defense, phenomenal in 2011 and really good the past two seasons, not to drop off a notch or two.

When that defense was dominant, it gave you and your offensive buddies a nice cushion, a margin for error. If you guys weren't clicking, you knew the defense, like a protective big brother, would keep getting you the ball back. This season, it's going to be the other way around.

Last season, even though many called you a new superstar, you weren't really expected to carry the offense. Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman love the power running game, and for the past two seasons, the 49ers were near the bottom of the league in passes attempted. You didn't have to have a brilliant day throwing for the 49ers to win.

That's almost surely going to change. If the 49ers' defense gives up more points, your offense is going to have to score more points, which means you'll be passing more.

Frank Gore still seems to be in top bell-cow form at age 32, but opponents are starting to stack the box on him, daring you to throw. Some experts don't believe you're up to that challenge.

You think they're wrong.

You've got better receivers. The 49ers now go five deep in wide receivers, so you'll come out in a lot more three-wideout sets. Vernon Davis is still a star and looking to build his brand, he'll be hungry. You've got a first-rate group of targets.

Harbaugh and Roman simplified the playbook. Cleaned out the garage, is how Roman put it. They might have done so after admitting that the thick playbook and ponderous play-calling machinery was cutting into your valuable time, which could be better spent reading defenses, before and after the snap.

You're older and wiser, but no less determined to grow. Your Jag is still parked next to the entry gate every morning, proof that you haven't lost your drive. It makes your teammates feel good to know that their young offensive leader isn't on cruise control.

You can't do that, there's too much at stake, and you know it. The pressure is on. Forget about the critics who will jump on every botched pass or misread play as proof that you're not an elite quarterback. You say the mean-spirited trolls in Twitterland drive you to excellence, but if they all disappeared tomorrow, you'd still be tooling into the parking lot before sunup. You're a football player.

And so you like your new supersized burden.

You're breaking in a new stadium, and your team owner expects a Super Bowl victory. If you don't achieve that goal, this could be your last season playing for Harbaugh, the greatest wing man a quarterback ever had.

The deck is stacked against you. Your NFC West rivals all have stout defenses. You have to go against Richard Sherman at least twice, and he's more like a virus than a cornerback. Every linebacker in the league wants a shot at your stork legs in the open field.

You're right where you want to be. You're not a bug boy anymore. It's on you.